Monday, March 17, 2014

Loyalty of the Golden West

Loyalty of the
Golden West:

The Internment
of Japanese Americans

During World War II, following the attack on Pearl
Harbor, nearly 120,000 Japanese-Americans were forcibly relocated to internment
camps. Those who lived along the West Coast, whose loyalty to the United States
was previously unquestioned, instantaneously faced prejudice and discrimination
as public opinion viciously turned against citizens of Japanese descent. As the
media circulated the devastating horrors experienced at the Hawaiian naval base,
Americans grew nervous, apprehensive that another such bombing could occur
closer to home. Fear prompted accusations to arise as those who supported the
internment program desired to associate Japanese living along the Pacific with potential
threats of espionage.

Notice of the Order posted in 1942

On
February 19, 1942, Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, approving
the government-enforced evacuation of supposed enemies to the state, gathering
those of Japanese, German and Italian heritage in order to relocate these American
citizens to relocation centers set in desolate portions of California, Idaho,
Wyoming and other remote Western states. Although a portion of Europeans were
evacuated, Japan alone faced massive removal. Roosevelt, prompted by the
administration, enacted this ordinance primarily due to perceiving Japanese
citizens as a threat to national security.

Traveling to internment camps

Realizing that the public had been
swayed to segregate the Japanese, most burned or buried any possessions
considered un-American such as records, books and even family heirlooms.
Despite attempts to mask their identity and prove that they were assimilated
into American culture; the Japanese were easily identified and resented by their
neighbors, especially farmers who despised agrarian competition and the
overwhelming presence Japanese farmers enjoyed in California’s central valley
where they experienced economic success. Assuming that cultural and ethnic links
to Imperial Japan would encourage reconnaissance, the United States government
rapidly secured the majority of the U.S. Japanese population which resided within
close proximity to the warring empire due to their position on the Golden
Coast.

An example of Japanese segregation in Idaho

Within
a forty-eight hour period, thousands of Americans claiming Japanese nationality
found themselves within the custody of the Immigration and Naturalization
Service which shuffled these exiles living in vulnerable zones into makeshift
facilities. Although the bulk of these individuals were U.S. citizens by birth,
two-thirds were forced to leave their homes, sell their businesses and pack
only two suitcases per person within a two week period.

Japanese occupying the Fresno fairgrounds

Before being transferred
to official camps, most Japanese loitered in racetracks and fairgrounds for
months, only sheltered by meager tents and rations. Upon arrival to camps such as
Manzanar, the occupants were instructed to build their own lodging. Overcrowded
and ill-prepared, Japanese deportees survived in poor living conditions without
plumbing or cooking facilities and inadequate supplies. Rationing cost
forty-eight cents per internee and was served by camp members in halls housing
roughly three hundred occupants. The camps housed pitiable barracks surrounded
by barbed wire and armed guards.

Japanese families being escorted by military personnel

Some families were disrupted as members were
separated and placed in one of the ten major internment centers while a few
died from the lack of medical care and emotional distress.

A crowded mess hall

Those in desert
regions endured harsh terrain and elements while every camp suffered bouts of
food poisoning, extreme temperatures and unsanitary, communal lavatories and
bathrooms. However, inmates were most concerned about their future for they were left uninformed regarding the duration that their internment would last. Though grieving economic loss
and humiliation, Japanese unity emerged. Camps constructed civic councils, operated
hospitals and newspaper services while churches offered education, choral and
spiritual enlightenment.

Nurse Aiko Hamaguchi assisting Toyoko Ioki at the Manzanar Center

Civilians provided entertainment, enjoying movie
screenings, sumo wrestling tournaments, recitals and the fruits of their
gardens. In 1943 all internees over the age of seventeen were given a loyalty
test, asking them to swear allegiance to their nation and defend her from any
foreign or domestic attack. Detainees were allowed to leave the concentration
camps if they were willing to join the U.S. Army, an offer that most refused.

Returning to barracks after a church service

Harrowingly,
no American placed in the internment camps were officially charged with
espionage nor were they provided with a trial.Two important
legal cases eventually clamored against Japanese internment. Despite arguing
that Japanese’ Fifth Amendment rights were violated by the U.S. government
based on discriminatory claims, Hirabayashi v. United States
(1943), and Korematsu v. United States
(1944) both lost as the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the government. These
cases occurred before Brown v. Board which would establish the doctrine of equal citizenship in 1954.

Families returning from internment camps with assistance

Two
years after signing the Executive Order, President Roosevelt repealed the
decision, allowed internees to return home and closed the final internment camp
in 1945. However, this blatant override of constitutional power and racism
alienated Japanese citizens who saw their citizenship tarnished by the very
nation claiming equality for all. Although many faced hostility after
their release, most decided to rebuild their lives while 5,766 natural born
Japanese renounced their American citizenship and returned to Japan.
Eventually, America issued government apologies and reparations to Japanese
Americans for the property and years they had lost.

Manzanar Relocation Center in Central California

Japanese-American internment serves as one of the
most sweeping deprivations of constitutional rights in American history. The
Executive Order and forced relocation of hundreds of thousands of citizens
deprived equal protection under the law which guarantees the Fifth Amendment,
due process of law and the individual right to work, own property and live
freely. Despite suffering injustice, this period of detainment serves as a
warning, urging America to not stumble from her core values in order to ensure that
such a denial of justice will not have the opportunity to occur again in the proceeding decades.

Suggest Reading:

American Council on Public Affairs . "Issei, Nisei, and
Kibei."Displaced Japanese-Americans. Fortune Magazine, April 1944.

Without a Country. Women's International League for Peace and
Freedom, 1947.

Outcasts! The Story of America's Treatment of Her Japanese-American
Minority. Fellowship of Reconciliation, 1944.

Yoosun, Park. "Facilitating Injustice: Tracing the Role of Social
Workers in the World War II Internment of Japanese Americans."Social Service Review 82.3
: 447-483.

Wozniacka, Gosia. "Memorial site to mark Japanese American
detention during WWII." Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.
http://lubbockonline.com/life/2011-10-09/memorial-site-mark-japanese-american-detention-during-wwii
(accessed March 17, 2014).

"Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214(1944): The U.S. Supreme
Court Upholds Internment." History Matters.
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5151 (accessed March 17, 2014).

RLBARNES. "FEBRUARY 19, 1942: Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066 and
Japanese Internment During World War II.” U.S. History Scene.
http://www.ushistoryscene.com/uncategorized/february-19-1942-roosevelts-executive-order-9066-and-japanese-internment-during-world-war-ii/
(accessed March 17, 2014).